For the first time since May of last year, Mercedes Mone showed up in a wrestling ring on live television as she made her much anticipated debut on AEW Dynamite: Big Business.

Coming out in a white and gold outfit and a new theme song which makes people chant “CEO,” an emotional Mone walked down to the ring in front of her hometown crowd at the TD Garden.

“Boston, I’m home,” Mone said. “Thank you for having my back these past few years, thank you for giving me the courage and strength to be here.”

She said that she was there to create magic moments with everyone.

“Wrestling has changed and saved my life. Wrestling has given me hope, a place to dream,” she continued, mentioning Eddie Guerrero as her inspiration.

She said her dream led her to front a women’s evolution and to main event a pay-per-view in this same building.

At 13 years old, she said she dropped out of school to take care of her brother Joshua and then her wrestling dream took her to Chaotic Wrestling to go on and become the greatest women’s wrestler of all time.

“You wanna know why I’m here? Cause I need to be here. I want to be here. AEW is the only place where the revolution can be global. And we’re going to make that happen,” Mone concluded.

During her in-ring promo, AEW President Tony Khan posted the usual “All Elite” graphic welcoming Mone.

Mone quit WWE in May 2022 along with Trinity Fatu and then joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling where she won the IWGP Women’s title. After a short stint with the title, Mone went after the NJPW Strong Women’s title and was set to be the inaugural champion until she got injured during the match and called an audible for Willow Nightingale to win instead.

Mone has been out injured with a broken leg since that match on May 21. She kept a low profile since then but did appear in the crowd – and on screen – during the All In pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium in London.